Secondary Menu

BoeBot Bumpers

The purpose of this bumper is to allow the BoeBot to maneuver around its surroundings. When something bumps into either side of the bumper the tinfoil wrapped Popsicle sticks touch and make a connection which tells the robot to stop, reverse, and turn away from the obstacle. All of the programming is done using Basic Stamp.

Step 1: Make the Connections

Strip about an inch of insulation off a 5 inch length of cable and coil the stripped part. Take a 1 inch square piece of tinfoil and place a staple through the coiled cable and the tinfoil. Make sure you use bare metal staples.

Step 2: Making the Connection Bracket

Take two, 2 inch pieces of Popsicle stick and hot glue them together.

Step 3: Affixing the Connection

Place the connection bracket on top stapled wire and tinfoil then wrap it tightly. before you fold it for the last time add a dab of hot glue to keep it in place. repeat this for both sides.

Step 4: Attaching the Connection Bracket

Next, hot glue the connection bracket to a piece of Popsicle stick that can be attached to the metal frame in between the front wheels. This allows the connection bracket to protrude out from the wheels when the BoeBot is moving.

Step 5: Attaching Connection Bracket to the BoeBot

You can now attach the connection bracket to the front of the BoeBot with either hot glue or tape. Make sure that there is enough room for the wheels to spin before you do anything permanent.

Step 6: Adding the Bumper

Next, you are going to take a full Popsicle stick and repeat steps 1 and 3. Make sure that the connections on the bumper are directly across from the connections on the bracket. After that, you can create a side bumper by adding reinforcement to the bumper and then creating a side bumper as seen in the images.

Step 7: Creating the Circuit

This circuit attaches the bumper circuitry to the rest of the BoeBot. Make sure that at least one of the connector wires on each side is connected to ground on the BoeBot. The other part of each connection can go into p15 and p14 on your board.

Step 8: All Done!

Congrats you've made your very own BoeBot Bumper!

Step 9: Load the Code

Make sure that you modify the lMotor and rMotor for which ever servo connections that you are using.